Nate Carter Ashland senior The only four-year letter

Doug HaidetPublished: November 14, 2006 12:00AM

Nate Carter
Ashland senior
The only four-year letter winner on this season's Arrow team, Carter closed out an exceptional high school career by making his second straight regional meet appearance. The senior posted a career-best 17:10 at his Division I Galion district, earning him sixth. A 12th-place mark at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet (17:34) also awarded Carter second-team league honors for the second year in a row. The Arrow senior was given the Sportsmanship Award at the team's postseason banquet.
Brock Weaver
Ashland senior
Weaver used the Division I district at Galion to display his talents, posting a first-place finish with a lifetime-best mark of 16:24 to advance to his second straight regional meet. At that muddy event, the senior snagged 18th (17:31) 40 places better than his finish at Tiffin in 2005 missing out on a state appearance by just two spots. Weaver was third at the OCC meet (16:29) for first-team league laurels, finished his career as the 16th-fastest AHS runner all-time, and held the top sophomore, junior and senior averages in those respective seasons as an Arrow.
Mike Aten
Loudonville senior
A three-time regional-qualifying individual, Aten capped a stellar high school career with his first appearance at Scioto Downs for the state meet this year. Finishing 56th overall in Columbus in 17:15 just nine seconds off his PR the senior was the first Redbird to have a presence at state since 1995, and has been one of the keys to a Redbird team that has accumulated four straight regional appearances (the team now has a total of six). Aten also set a home course record this season in a dual meet and earned all-conference honors in all four of his falls at Loudonville.
Ben Mathie
Loudonville junior
Averaging just a hair over 18 minutes an outing during his 2006 season, Mathie's contributions played big into helping the Redbirds to their fourth straight team appearance at the regional meet. Already a three-year letter winner, the junior has had district times good enough in all three of his campaigns to advance to regionals as an individual, taking 14th in Division III this season at the Malone district (18:03). Mathie also has been All-Mid-Buckeye Conference in each of his seasons, running his way to third place and first-team league honors this fall.
Kyle Anderson
New London junior
Featuring the best time by any non-senior in the area this season (16:48), Anderson will join teammate Brandon Lang as one of a pair of crucial runners who will be counted on to fill the void left by Troy Coombs next season in New London. The junior multi-letter winner was fifth in the Firelands Conference meet to earn first-team status and took fifth at the Galion district. He finished 77th at Scioto Downs (17:36), helping his team to a ninth-place finish.
Troy Coombs
New London senior
Good things came in fours for Coombs during his high school trotting career. The Wildcat senior was an individual qualifier for regionals in all four of his competing falls, earning first-team All-FC honors in the process. This year, after a fourth-place finish in the regional meet in Tiffin, Coombs made his second trek to Columbus for state, placing 22nd overall in 16:40 good enough for All-Ohio and 1:07 better than in his sophomore appearance. The Wildcat's PR of 16:04 at the Galion Invitational was the second fastest time in history for the team one which Coombs helped continue to its amazing 20th consecutive trip to the regional meet. New London also made its 12th appearance at state.
Brandon Lang
New London junior
Backing up his credentials as the team's second-best runner in terms of a PR a season ago, Lang completed another big year as a huge piece of the New London puzzle. With multiple letters also under his belt, the junior took third at the Galion district, finished fourth at the FC meet to take first-team laurels, and would have missed state individually by just 15 seconds had the team not advanced, placing 21st overall in Division III in 17:47 on some choppy, weather-ruined turf in Tiffin's regional. Lang also was an individual qualifier for regionals as a sophomore.